With 9.1 on the horizon now is the time to look at how legendaries will function. This has been the premier crafting market in Shadowlands, and will likely remain so.
Crafting rank 5 and 6
In 9.1 we get to upgrade our legendaries to rank 5 and 6. To do this we need to learn the new recipe called Vestige of Origins. This is an optional reagent, that you then apply to your legendaries at rank 3 or 4 to increase the rank by 2 to a rank 5 or 6. This means you need to unlock level 3 and 4 of any legendaries you want to craft rank 5 or 6s of. Since there are different vestiges for different professions and players may have different combinations, so cost differences will be a lot bigger.
Unlocking the recipe
The recipe for vestiges is locked behind campaign progress in Korthia, and it does require you to have 44 renown. So if you want to get access to this recipe as early as possible you will have to grind out up to 40 renown on any legendary crafters you have. If you’re not there yet then start working on this right away, as otherwise you will be far behind the curve.
Vestige cost comparisons
I’ve mathed out the cost for the vestiges based on current EU market values. They all have roughly the same cost, except the tailoring one which is ludicrously expensive. This is primarily driven by an absolutely massive increase in the price for Lightless Silk, but if it sustains then tailoring will be the most expensive one. For Jewelcrafting the vestige will always be more expensive than blacksmithing. Simply because the essences required require more ore to prospect than you need to melt for the bars for the BS variant.
Overall this means leatherworking and Blacksmithing are the two cheapest, and the optimal combinations for using two crafters is then JC/BS on one and LW/Tailoring on the other. Interestingly this is the same combo I’ve been running, just with the roles reversed on which one gives access to cheap optional reagents.
Changes in demand
With Shards of Domination sockets coming only on specific slots this means a lot of players will want to re-craft their legendaries. Getting a full set of sockets will be useful and players will want to avoid the slots where you can get shards of domination, as you can not currently socket a shard into a legendary.
The full list is below:
- Cloth: chest, helmet, shoulders, bracer, belt
- Leather: chest, helmet, shoulders, gloves, boots
- Mail: chest, helmet, shoulders, belt, boots
- Plate: chest, helmet, shoulders, bracer, gloves
The biggest standouts to me are the cloth chest and helmet, both of which sell incredily well, alongside mail shoulders and boots and plate pauldrons and chest piece. The ever popular plate leggings will likely continue their dominance. This will of course depend on legendary balance, but overall I expect to see demand shift away from the Shard slots and over to other slots. Most legendaries have gotten an extra slot option to make sure you can get away from these.
Another big winner is the tailoring cloak that can be used by everyone and misses all the shard slots, together with rings and necklaces we should see JC see a nice bump as well.
Korthite crystal mania
The Korthite Crystals will be a huge limiting factor for the first weeks. Getting these cheaply will be huge, and you will have to be ready to spend a good amount of gold to get going. If you are at zero, then you are unlikely to be able to afford many rank 5 legendaries, but you can always leverage alts to farm for crystals.
Good luck and enjoy!